Join the conversation: Has the tide turned for Chris Christie?

Public doesn't believe report that cleared him

Apr. 3, 2014

Christie

There is good news for Chris Christie in the latest Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press poll: public opinion of the governor has stabilized after suffering a big drop with the George Washington Bridge scandal broke in early January.

Christie’s approval rating stands at 51 percent among all New Jersey residents, while 41 percent have a negative opinion of the job the governor is doing. Among registered voters, 51 percent approve and 43 percent disapprove of the governor’s performance.

His approval numbers ticked up a bit from February, when they stood at 50 percent for all New Jerseyans, and 49 percent among registered voters. That poll showed Christie’s approval had dropped by double digits since the scandal broke.

“The bleeding has stopped for now,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. Murray pointed out that the poll was conducted after Christie’s legal team released a lengthy report last week that said the governor had no involvement in the September toll lane closures.

The bad news for the governor: most state residents don’t agree with many of the findings by the Gibson Dunn & Crutcher law firm’s report that absolved Christie of blame in the bridge scandal.

“The public seems to reject almost every finding of the report,” Murray said. “That’s why I think as they hear about it, I don’t think it’s going to convince them to change their minds.”

Murray said the report may actually turn out to be a negative for Christie. He said the governor’s ratings had stabilized before the report was released. Christie receives 84 percent support from Republicans, 55 percent from Independents, and 34 percent from Democrats.

Tinton Falls resident Jeni McGowan, 85, considers herself a strong supporter of the governor. She said Christie has been working hard to get more help for state residents whose homes were damaged by Superstorm Sandy.

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“I think he has been trying his best for the people,” said McGowan. “I’m not really sure how much more he could do.” McGowan said she believes the governor is probably being truthful when he says he had no knowledge of the lane closures.

“He’s a micro-manager. There is no way he didn’t know about the lane closures. I think he ordered it,” Johnson said. “If you pay your lawyers $1 million, you can get any outcome you want.”

Johnson was referring to the supposed cost of Christie’s lawyers’ report. The lawyers who produced it are being paid $650 an hour in taxpayer funds. The cost was reported in a New York Times story.

Just over half — 54 percent — of the state’s residents have heard about the report, but only 30 percent see it as a fair and unbiased investigation of the lane closures. Instead, 52 percent say the report was done to help Christie’s reputation.

The report blames former Christie Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly, and former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive David Wildstein for the decision to close down the George Washington Bridge lanes.

Only 11 percent of state residents agree that only Kelly and Wildstein were involved. Seventy-seven percent say others were involved. Only 32 percent of Garden State residents think the governor has been completely honest about what he knows of the incident. Forty-seven percent think Christie was directly involved, compared to 38 percent who think he was not.

The report also concluded that there was no truth to Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer’s claim that members of the Christie administration said the city would not receive Superstorm Sandy relief monies if a development project was not approved.

State residents are not so sure. Forty-five percent continue to believe Zimmer’s claims, compared to 40 percent who don’t.

Christie’s job approval rating is actually lower among those who have been paying attention to bridge scandal. Among those who have been paying a lot of attention, the governor’s approval rating is 49 percent, with 44 percent disapproval.

Sixty-two percent of New Jersey residents believed that the bridge scandal The Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press Poll telephone poll of 803 New Jersey adults from March 30 to April 1, 2014. This sample has a margin of error of + 3.5 percent. The poll was conducted by the Monmouth University Polling Institute and originally published by the Asbury Park Press and its sister publications (Courier-Post, Courier News, Daily Journal, Daily Record, and Home News Tribune).